Editing Mercenaries (Battletech) (section)

== Overview ==
In human history, there have been two jobs that have survived from caveman times up until the time of the BattleMech; [[Magistracy of Canopus|prostitution]], and mercenaries. Mercenaries have always been a need for militaries. And changing the playing field from county to county, country to country, continent to continent, and finally planet to planet hasn't caused  any meaningful change to that arrangement for any reason. Their specific use had been declining for centuries however, and it wasn't until things got going in the 23rd century and the Great Houses began their ascent to power that they became a ubiquitous part of the Inner Sphere's way of doing things. By then they were merely fill-ins from people lucky enough to own 'Mechs or ad-hoc groups put together. Very little prestige was involved but it paid their share for doing the wetwork for whoever had no experienced troops but enough cash to spare.

All that changed after the [[Star League]]'s collapse and the [[Amaris Civil War]], however. 

With 80% of the largest and most well-equipped army in human history fucking off to god knows where in bumfuck space, it fell to the remaining 20% to find a way to make some money now that the Star League wasn't fitting the bill. And wouldn't you know it, the Great Houses were perfectly willing to shill out a little cash to whomever could help fill space in their armies as they began the [[Succession Wars]]. While the bulk of the SLDF remnants in Spheroid space would join ComStar as the Com Guard, a decent remainder decided to strike out in the name of the highest bidder. As a way to better facilitate this, [[ComStar]] created the '''Mercenary Review Board''' (later succeeded by the independent '''Mercenary Review Board & Bonding Commission''') to better allow Mercs and interested parties to do business with each other transparently without the risk of parties backstabbing each other blatantly. To keep things civil, the MRB/MRBC encouraged mercenaries and clients to negotiate in public hiring halls on mercenary worlds like Outreach, Galatea, and [[Solaris VII]] (though the latter had a reputation for solo prima donna’s with an independent streak instead of large battalions able to take orders). To make things even more complicated, Clan Sea Fox has begun managing mercenary contracts after the HPG Blackout and the IlClan’s rise.

At the beginning of the Succession Wars, they actually had to reign their employers in because they had begun to ask them to commit war crimes. This might seem counter-intuitive for mercenaries to insist on fair war conduct until you realize that: (1) scorched earth warfare would leave no [[LosTech|salvage]] for mercenaries to loot for money, (2) blatantly killing everyone instead of holding officers/VIP's for ransom and treating civilians fairly would lead to a "kill-on-sight" target painted on their backs for generations (as seen with the Free Rasalhague Republic’s grudges), (3) any employer seeking to antagonize all mercenaries, like with Takeshi Kurita's "Death to Mercenaries" edict, would find every mercenary running for the hills instead of risking their skins under such clients. Nevertheless, they still have a reputation as being the guys you call in when you don't want to sully your hands with particularly grim work or risk civilian outcry from massive casualties in your military roster. 

Mercenaries have had a major impact on the life of the Inner Sphere; able to enforce what became known as the [[Ares Convention|Honors of War]] creating the standard limited warfare of the Inner Sphere, and for reviving the LosTech that'd been all but forgotten in the ravages of the Succession Wars.